Yes compared to a Brisbane summer, Adelaide’s summer is good apart from during the heatwaves. The heatwaves can be long and severe though. 28-30C nights are the real killer and happen a fair few times a summer these days.
Victor Harbor is commutable and almost always gets a seabreeze. The hills above Victor Harbor can be ridiculously cool in summer and would be my pick.
And I agree that Adelaide is easily the most laid back of the major capitals. I still prefer Canberra and Hobart, though.
You’d be surprised just how many nights the apparent temperature (factoring in humidity) stays above 28 in Brisbane at night. It’s a LOT. The actual temp at night doesn’t go below the low 20s for about 3 months straight.
I’ve spent summers in both and I know which one I’d take 
The main problem I had in Adelaide was it just went straight into winter in late March. There wasn’t much of a period of ‘nice’ weather in between the two.
For me the weather in Brisbane outside of the horrendous summer is close to perfect and compensates. From about April to November.
In regards to Sydney and Melbourne. I lived in Sydney for 2 years and found the weather there just about perfect. Summers were a bit humid but nothing compared to Brisbane. The rest of the year was great except perhaps a few weeks too cold for me in July. Melbourne for me is just too cold for too long. Winters just seem endless.
Sydney weather is mostly good except for the furnace that is the Penrith valley, where the summer heat gets sucked in and makes the temps about 5-10 degrees hotter than other parts of the metro area on a hot day.
It can get hot or humid often between December to March, but there is just enough in the way of cool changes to provide some respite.
Between extremely hot Summer weather, cold Winter weather and often being hit hard by severe storms, Penrith and surrounds surely has the worst climate of anywhere in/around the Sydney metropolitan area?!
For the most part, Spring and Autumn are the optimal times of year to be in Sydney IMO. Our Summers and Winters aren’t great.
I’ve said it before- Penrith cops some of the worst heat in Australia, period. It’s as hot as many inland towns on average with bucketloads of humidity thrown in for good measure. Only Ipswich is comparable, but at least they don’t get to 40 that often.
Penrith does get some frost but I wouldn’t exactly describe its winter weather as harsh. It would be a relief after a summer of scorching heat and severe thunderstorms as you point out. It usually warms up pretty quickly, aside from a few days a year where fog lingers until late morning.
Coastal Sydney isn’t too bad as long as there’s a seabreeze, but once that drops the nights are pretty awful. You need to live right on the beach to get a breeze all night and that’s unattainable unless you’re a zillionaire. Compare that to Bungendore, where I’m currently enjoying 11C after a high of 25; a drop like that is routine in the warmer months.
Cooler changes used to penetrate Sydney regularly in summer, but not so much anymore. You need to head south of Ulladulla for that. Winters in Sydney are pretty perfect really, aside from the odd bout of onshore rain. Admittedly there were quite a few of those events this winter due to the lack of westerlies.
Sydney will be more than double the temperature of Melbourne tomorrow.
Sydney CBD : 30°C
Melbourne CBD: 14°C
Cool change came through tonight, it was 29c today in Melbourne and similar yesterday.
That’s quite common at this time of year, particularly since the Southern Ocean is still freezing. That cold air doesn’t even make it to Canberra most of the time after September, let alone Sydney. I would rather spend November-March in southern VIC or TAS, but you can’t have everything.
Without wanting to be a complete weather geek in 2019 Ipswich had 9 days over 40 and Penrith had 10. The monthly mean maximum temp was much higher in Ipswich though with a mean maximum over 30 for 5 continuous months of the year in Ipswich compared with 3 months in Penrith.
Adelaide had 14 days over 40 but much lower mean maximums than both - indicating big breaks of cooler temps between heatwaves.
When looking at historical weather records, Ipswich has experienced temperatures 40 or over in a staggering 7 months - September through to March. Both Adelaide and Penrith have only experienced 40+ in 5 months of the year - November to March.
I agree though that Penrith is the most horrendous part of Sydney weather wise.
That is surprising re. Ipswich 40C days; it has been a rough couple of summers in SEQ though. This summer looks like it will be a lot milder up there. Sydney has had loads more heat than Brisbane so far this spring, in terms of 30C days.
I agree that the duration of heat in Ipswich is longer and that is borne out clearly by the statistics, but I still contend that the peak of the heat in Penrith is usually worse. I said Penrith cops some of the worst heat in Australia, without considering the duration. Should have qualified that with ‘summer heat’; I think I did in a previous post.
Regarding 40C days; they used to be pretty much unheard of in Bungendore but now we get 1 or 2 a season. The absolute max is about 41C.
Actually no Sydney and Brisbane have both had 2 days over 30 since the end of August.
Brisbane’s mean maximum temp for September is quite a bit higher too at 25.9 vs. Sydney’s 22.6 so Brisbane has been hotter so far this spring.
Looking at the west, Ipswich has already had 8 days over 30 since August vs. Penrith’s 5.
But yes Brisbane is looking at a milder spring and summer this year - fingers crossed. In 2019 Brisbane had already had 8 days over 30 up to 5th Oct, so it is trending milder so far. Incidentally in 2019 Ipswich had already had 16(!) days over 30 by 5th Oct…Ouch
Sorry to get off track but I’m a weather geek lol. I also find a lot of facts get misreported regarding weather by the media for sensationalism. Sydney media in particular is hysterical about it sometimes.
Well I have done an alanh with this thread!
This target seems to get closer every year.
It’s arguably already bigger. greater Sydney includes the central coat while greater Melbourne excludes Geelong.
I didn’t think Central Coast was included in the Sydney metropolitan population figures. If it is it’s a massive stretch as it’s further from the CBD than Geelong is from Melbourne, or Surfers Paradise is from Brisbane CBD for that matter.
If it is included then I think that is bizarre and I’d argue Melbourne is already bigger.
The funny thing is Sydney still SEEMS so much bigger, maybe it’s the layout or the topography.
I am not a fan of victor harbor personally. It’s very windy, the breezes aren’t that nice and it is quite far away from Adelaide. If you are going that far away form Adelaide there are some much nicer towns like Normanville or Port Elliot.
Yeah, the Central Coast probably shouldn’t be counted as part of the Sydney metropolitan area because it’s separated by the Hawkesbury River.
That and because if classed as a standalone region, the NSW Central Coast would have roughly around the same population (maybe one is slightly larger or smaller than the other, but there isn’t much in it) as the Illawarra which is generally regarded as a region in its own right by everyone.
Good. Go to Melbourne - Sydney’s fucking full. 
Yeah agree. They’re both pretty much the same distance from the CBD too. It makes no sense.
Due to Covid, both cities are expected to slowdown dramatically with population growth, but Sydney is expected to be stagnant for some time allowing Melbourne to officially overtake it sooner rather than later. I find this odd… as Melbourne has been affected more recently with extended lockdowns etc